The present invention relates to an apparatus for mounting appliances or equipment of many types in offices, industrial areas or homes and is particularly useful for mounting home entertainment devices such as a television set, speakers, CD/DVD players and the like and more particularly, to a frame structure which is adapted to be mounted upon a wall and to which such home entertainment devices may be affixed.
It has become recognized in the industry, particularly as a result of the development of flat panel television sets that means to mount such devices to the wall of a structure have become extremely important. Many such mounting systems are extremely complicated and difficult to install and often require an electrician or cabinet maker to accomplish this task. Even when such is accomplished, a remaining problem is that the wiring and cabling necessary to operate the various devices remains visible and is unsightly.
There are numerous prior art patents which disclose partition paneling for utilization in dividing up space within commercial buildings into appropriate office space for use by tenants. Many of the disclosed partitions include attachment locations which define mounting spaces to which various types of equipment may be secured. Typical of such prior art structures are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,851,226; 5,321,579; 5,400,560; 6,167,664; 5,694,727; and published application No. U.S. 2005/00086871. Also in the prior art there is disclosed stand alone mounting arrangements or arrangements which may be attached to a wall such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,462,892 and 6,612,077. The structures as disclosed in the prior art are either designed for permanent installation into a structure to define designated areas for utilization as an office or alternatively, are used to provide a display board or to adapt a hospital room wall to provide more convenient access to service outlets needed in a hospital room. U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,727 discloses a system in which there is provided a panel wall consisting of an array of individual panels in which the panels are accurately positioned in both vertical and horizontal direction. This system is designed to provide a finished wall as opposed to a partitioning wall or a standalone wall for accommodating various objects.
A need exists for a structure that may be independently attachable to an existing wall structure which is capable of having various devices of the type described in the above referred to prior art as well as components of a home entertainment system attached thereto in such a manner that the various tubes, wires, and cabling are concealed and which provides an effective and efficient assembly for such purpose and at the same time is pleasing in appearance.